Top Ten High Points
Of Euro 2012
We've reached the business end of Euro 2012 with Portugal,
Spain, Italy
and Germany all
vying for a place in Sunday's final.
...Thus far, at least. From beards to goals to a masterful
centre-back, the tournament so far has been pretty good. Here are ten of my
favourite moments...what are yours?
10 - Hair
For the connoisseur of the beard, this has been a terrific
tournament. From old favourites (Olof Mellberg, Xabi Alonso) to new hot young
hairy bucks (half the Greek side), it's been a procession of fine facial fuzz.
Italy have some fine beards among them, and it was as if Cesare Prandelli was
sensitive to our needs during the England game - as Daniele de Rossi was
withdrawn, he introduced the similarly hirsute Antonio Nocerino to maintain the
beard count. It was glorious. Not just chin hair either - Mario Gomez's quiff
is a feat of physics. Take the header he scored against Portugal
- TV showed a slow motion replay in which he rose, and the quiff was
immaculate. As he thrust his head forward and jerked it back the quiff was in
disarray. Then as he landed it returned to its previous immaculate state. It
was wonderful.
9 - Mats Hummels
Defenders have only won the Ballon D'Or four times since
1956. Only one has won the Golden Ball at a World Cup (Uruguayan right-back
Jose Nasazzi in 1930), and only one the best player of a European Championships
(Mathias Sammer in 1996, although that award has only been given four times).
Hummels is a realistic candidate for all of these, and what's surprising is
that he wasn't even a guaranteed starter for this brilliant Germany
side at the start of the tournament.
Indeed, had it not been for Per Mertesacker's injury
worries, he may well have started on the bench, but since then he's been
superb. He's made 15 tackles, 15 interceptions, hasn't committed a foul
yet...hell, even his pass completion rate is 93%. But statistics aren't the
reason he's been one of the highlights of the tournament - it's the combination
of elegance and strength, muscling out attackers before a quick turn and fleet
of foot to take the ball out of defence. In a position where players often do
not mature until their late 20s, Hummels's best could be years away, which is a
fairly terrifying thought for strikers across the continent.
8 - Zlatan Ibrahimovic's reaction to elimination
Whether you're a Zlatan believer or not, I ask you to sit
back and enjoy his answer to the question, posed just after Sweden's
elimination was confirmed, of who he thought would win the whole thing: "I
don't give a sh*t. I'm going on holiday."
7 - The tactical gambles of Cesare Prandelli and Vicente del
Bosque
It takes either a very confident or a very foolish man to
change or take a gamble with an unfamiliar system at a major tournament. The
Italian and Spanish bosses did just this in their first game, with the former
opting for a 3-5-2 formation
with midfielder Daniele de Rossi slotting in at the back, while the latter
eschewed convention by not choosing a recognised striker, asking Cesc Fabregas
and David Silva to nominally fill the 'centre-forward' role. Both were
reflections on domestic club sides (several Italian sides played with three at
the back last season, while Barcelona
were the obvious template for Spain),
but both were huge risks. The game itself was a fascinating exercise in feeling
each other out, in looking for weaknesses and probing, trying to pick holes in
the opposition while at the same time trying to get used to changes in their
own sides.
6 - The realistic/pessimistic expectations of the English
press
We feared that, after the FA brazenly ignored the wishes of
much of our Fourth Estate and appointed Roy Hodgson as England
manager, the knives would be out. We feared Hodgson would be pilloried for not
being Harry Redknapp. We feared he would not be given a chance. However, it's
been comforting that many of them seem to have gained a sense of perspective -
this is a reasonably limited England
side, and most of the papers reacted to their performances and eventual exit
accordingly. There has been criticism, but it's been largely fair. In a nation
that is so influenced by the voice of the press, it's been refreshing.
5 - Mesut Ozil's performance against Holland
I could really have put 'Germany' on this list, even though
they received some criticism back home for apparently not being utterly
orgasmic in the groups (despite being the only team with a 100% record), but
I'd prefer to be a little more specific. Ozil laid on an example of how a man
in his position (the middle of the three in a 4-2-3-1) should play, popping up
on either wing, slipping perfect passes and generally making something of a
mockery of the apparently sturdy Dutch. Like Hummels, Ozil could go on to be
one of the greats, and it would be fitting if he guides Germany
to a tournament victory.
4 - The Pirlo Panenka
Of course, if he'd got it wrong, he would've looked like a
right wazzock. But this is Andrea Pirlo, not Yann Kermorgant. The brilliant
thing about the penalty was that it was the perfect and possibly only way to
cap his performance, which while he was helped out rather by an English
midfield keen to give him as much space as he wanted, was masterful. Fuelled by
the confidence of such a schooling, he was able to take this risk, safe in the
knowledge that the chances of anything going wrong were minimal. It forced Joe
Hart, one of the better goalkeepers in the tournament, to spin around on his
back like some sort of fat breakdancer. Finally, it was everything England
were not - England
were cautious, defensive and safe (which, given the circumstances, is fine -
not necessarily a criticism), while this was audacious, flamboyant and hugely
entertaining. I laughed when he did it, and if I hadn't been in my office
at the time, I would've applauded as well.
3 - The atmosphere of the opening game
They used to start World Cups with the holders, and while
this did create the odd hugely entertaining shock (Cameroon beating Argentina
in 1990, Senegal getting past France in 2002), the European Championships have
always gone with the hosts. And it's the perfect way to kick things off - there
was something incredibly powerful and intoxicating about Poland's
opener against Greece,
particularly the first half. The noise, even heard through a television
thousands of miles away from Warsaw, was incredible, and for about 20 minutes
of the first half, as a Polish side swept along in this fervour attacked and
attacked through Robert Lewandowski, Jakub Blaszczykowski and Ludovic Obraniak,
you briefly thought that Poland were unstoppable. Of course, when this
dissipated you were left with a reasonably limited side, one that shuffled out
of the tournament having not won a game, but those 20 minutes...
2 - Goals, goals, goals
Until England
and Italy
spoiled it on Sunday, there were no goalless draws in the tournament, but it's
the quality of some of the goals that has been breath-taking, rather than the
quantity. Take your pick really - Ibrahimovic against France,
Welbeck against Sweden,
Lahm, Kheidera and Reus against Greece,
Pirlo against Croatia,
Torres's first against Ireland...I
could go on. Here's to a few more.
1 - The last of a great format
There are very few that think the expansion to a 24-team
tournament for 2016 is a good thing. It will dilute the quality of the finals,
make the format unwieldy and needlessly complicated and increase the number of
one-sided and uncompetitive shellackings. There will be those that claim such a
point of view is elitist, and the 'small' nations should be given a chance, but
this is a competition to find the best team on the continent, not a group hug.
The 'small' teams do have a chance - that's called qualifying. The current
format works - it's not too short, not too long, competitive enough - just
right. It's Baby Bear's porridge, and we're Goldilocks.
If this is taken as a given, there might be a sense of
sadness that this will be the last time we will see it, with the insatiable
desire to wring every last penny out of football spoiling our fun. However,
there is an element of us savouring this, of appreciating it while it lasts.
This has been a golden age of European Championships, and it's coming to an end.
As if you're at the funeral of an avuncular acquaintance, think of this as a
celebration of life, not mourning their death.
